If I have a reality show idea, should I partner with a production company?
If you are not a television show producer but you have a great idea for a reality television show, you're probably not going to get in front of a network executive who could buy it without a television production company with you. If you do something else, usually it's something related; you're a writer, you're a magazine editor, etc. For example, if you're a dancer and you have an idea for a dance competition reality show, it's easier to get in front of a production company to pitch your idea. Usually production companies are looking for undiscovered, unknown talent from left field. Networks don't want to take that meeting; they don't want to take a left field, undeveloped pitch from someone who doesn't know what they're doing and couldn't produce it even if the network wanted to produce it. They are looking to a production company to come in with the idea. The step you have to go back to, if you're not a television production company, is find yourself a television production company who will listen to your reality show pitch and love it and help you develop it into something worthy of taking to a network and selling. You're doing a good thing by teaming up with them because they have the experience to get you in the door, back you up and say, "We can get it done on budget." They have the experience to know who to sell it to, who to pitch it to. There are a lot of reasons why you want to team up with an experienced television production company for your idea. If you're out there in the world and have an idea for what you think is a reality show I recommend not calling NBC and MTV and anybody else. Call production companies; call LMNO and Mindless Entertainment and even Mark Burnett if you can get in the door over there, and start at the top and keep moving down to the smaller and smaller companies until you find one who's in the right place for you and start there.
